these voyages was probably in 1561. He had already, in or about 1559, married Katharine, daughter of Benjamin Gonson, treasurer of the navy, the son of William Gonson, treasurer of the navy before him and captain of the Mary Grace in 1513, when Hawkyns's father was presumably master of the Great Galley. With the assistance of his father-in-law and of other influential friends, including Wynter, another principal officer of the navy [see Wynter, Sir William], who became ‘liberal contributors and adventurers,’ he fitted out three good ships, and sailed from England in October 1562. After touching at Teneriffe, he passed on to Sierra Leone, and there obtained, ‘partly by the sword and partly by other means,’ which included the plundering of Portuguese vessels (Portuguese depositions in State Papers, For., July 1568), ‘three hundred negroes at the least, besides other merchandises which that country yieldeth,’ and ‘with that prey he sailed over the Ocean sea unto the island of Hispaniola,’ at the several ports of which, ‘standing always upon his guard, and trusting the Spaniards no farther than that by his own strength he was able still to master them,’ he sold his English wares, and all his negroes. ‘He received, by way of exchange, hides, ginger, sugars, and some pearls,’ with which he loaded his own three ships, besides freighting ‘two other hulks with hides and other like commodities which he sent into Spain.’ He arrived in England in September 1563 (Hakluyt, Principal Navigations, iii. 500).
The Spanish laws against unlicensed trading to the Spanish colonies were very stringent, and the two ships which Hawkyns sent to Seville were seized as smugglers. Hampton, the companion of Hawkyns's voyage, who had taken charge of them, would have been thrown into prison had he not hastily fled the country. Hawkyns and his friends were anxious to recover the ships and their confiscated cargoes, and did not scruple to assert that they ‘were driven to San Domingo by force of weather, where they had desired license of the judges of the island to sell certain slaves, to victual themselves, and to pay their men’ (Cal. State Papers, For. 1563, No. 1465, 8 Dec.) All this, however, availed them nothing. Six months later the English ambassador at Madrid wrote to Hawkyns, advising him to come to terms with some favourite of the king, by the promise of four thousand or five thousand ducats (ib. 1564–5, No. 545, 5 July 1564); but nothing seems to have been recovered. Hawkyns estimated the loss at about 20,000l.; but the profits of the voyage were still very large.
A second expedition on a larger scale was speedily set on foot. Foremost among the adventurers were the Earl of Pembroke and Lord Robert Dudley, afterwards Earl of Leicester. The queen was induced to lend the Jesus, a ship of seven hundred tons, which had been bought from Lubeck in the reign of Henry VIII (Derrick, Memoirs of the Royal Navy, pp. 9, 11), a loan which probably involved an interest in the expedition. In the Jesus, with his former ship the Solomon, and two smaller vessels, Hawkyns sailed from Plymouth on 18 Oct. 1564, and arrived at Teneriffe on 7 Nov. Here the Spaniards were no longer friendly, and it was with difficulty that the ships were permitted to refit. Coming on the coast of Africa, the natives were everywhere hostile. On 27 Dec. Hawkyns attacked a town, where he hoped to make many prisoners, but was repulsed with the loss of seven men slain and twenty-seven wounded, taking away only ten negroes. Other attempts were more fortunate, and on 29 Jan. 1564–5 the ships sailed from Sierra Leone, having on board a ‘great company of negroes,’ but ill provided with water. Calms and baffling winds made the voyage long. When at last, on 9 March, they came to Dominica and landed in search of water, they ‘could find none but rain-water and such as fell from the hills and remained as a puddle in the dale, whereof they filled for the negroes.’ At Burburata, on the coast of Venezuela, where they first attempted to trade, leave was refused, strict orders having been sent from Spain prohibiting all traffic with any foreign nation. Hawkyns wished to argue the point, but the orders were positive; so on 16 April he landed ‘a hundred men well armed, … with the which he marched to the town wards,’ and so constrained the governor to come to terms; after which a satisfactory trade was opened, and a good many of the negroes were disposed of. At Rio de la Hacha they were met by the same prohibition. Hawkyns again attempted argument, not unmixed with falsehood; he said that ‘he was in an armada of the queen's majesty's of England, and sent about other her affairs, but, driven besides his pretended voyage, was enforced by contrary winds to come into those parts.’ As the Spaniards still refused, Hawkyns sent them word ‘to determine either to give him license to trade, or else stand to their arms.’ On 21 May he landed ‘one hundred men in armour’ with two small guns, the fire of which produced the desired effect, without any actual collision. After this the traffic proceeded quietly enough, and the whole cargo was disposed of within ten days. They then sailed northwards,
